Despair Lost, The Elemental Aftermath

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

Heretic Mood Song: Flame Amidst the Rain of Sorrow
SCS Mood Song: Victory, Though Small

Hallways, illuminated only by the bright runes crossing the walls like serpents. Seth Riosa sat in the base's long, wide passage, meditating to keep the anger within him from bursting out.

"Phoenicus, we must save Daniel. Despite our previous failures, the SCS's advancements plucking our friends and family from our hands, we must save Daniel. I will not allow them to claim this as a victory."
"Yes, little one. As callous as it is, he is the fellow leader. His loss is already affecting morale... Or rather, I feel it is, for you are certainly not yourself."
"I would wish to avoid bringing the others into this conflict... If we were to become feral... It would surely be our downfall. It is a danger to all, not only our foes, if I am unable to keep this under control..."
"Little one, I will not allow such talk. You need the help to stand a chance of victory, and I will not allow our bond to become tainted with your well-deserved fury. They will face our wrath, the wrath of the Heretics, they will not be allowed to claim another of our kin."
"Thank you, Phoenicus. Would you fill in any gaps as I speak to our friends?"
"Certainly." A bird of flame whirled into existence, perching atop Seth's shoulder as he stood.
"If you could summon them, Phoenicus... my voice is not loud enough to carry throughout these halls."
"I will." Phoenicus's voice was audible even deep in the rooms scattered in the hallways of the underground Heretic's base.
"Leader Seth needs a meeting with all Heretics within the base. Please meet him by his personal room."
Phoenicus turned his beak to Seth, his voice much quieter than it had been.
"I also sent a Spirit Message to every one of their spirits."
"Forethought, I like it. This is why you've been my wise advisor, Phoenicus. Now we wait for those who are here to come."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scientists, manipulating tools, chemicals, lasers, devices. Sweat, worry, frustration.

A man, dressed in flowing white cloth, edged with intricate gold designs, stood over scientists in turn, each one nearly sighing in relief as the man moved away. In a caged bay in the back of the room, a massive metallic beast lay like a silvery beached whale. Men and women in white and gold coats, wearing goggles walked busily about the behemoth, pressing tools and devices into open segments of complex technology. The man of importance knocked on the separating barrier, pushing a button for communication through the partition.

"What's the progress on the Goliath?"

A scientist hurried to the other communication dock.

"It is going excellently, Commander Alaric. It will be repaired within the evening. As for the improvements, however..."
"Get them done. The Goliath is our greatest success, and we cannot let it remain idle. Make it invincible. The Society is counting on you."
"Y-yes, Commander."

The Commander found another scientist, examining the internal circuits and wires of a cracked purple crystal.

"Commander, sir, whatever happened completely fried the generators. It looks to be a power overload, but we specifically put blocking programs to stop such an occurance."
"It is no worry. If it allowed the Goliath to capture and hold one of the Heretic Leaders, it is merely secondary to heightening the Goliath's ability. Reason, we can discover after we scatter the remnants of the Heretics and crush them."
"Yes, sir. Of course, sir."

Alaric continued his surveying, approaching a scientist who had a large spread of various deadly-looking tools.

"Fygar, how goes the projects? Your progress has been very pleasing of late. I do hope you have not been getting bored of creating weapons of death?"

--------------------------------

[Karnstantine]

Deep within the compound was a room filled with a haze of smoke coming from a pair of incense burners. A large, gemstone-shaped light was in the center, above a mat on the floor. Upon the mat was a figure in a robe, sitting with its feet together and hands cupped in its lap, moving so little that it seemed to be asleep. An oddity of the room was that there were no visible vents, but the smoke was literally swirling around the room. Then the summons was heard... Both by the figure and... the smoke? The figure looked up to the light, and it ceased its illumination. The smoke seemed to condense, and faded away around the figure.

The figure stood slowly, clasped its hands in front of itself, and seemed to fade away into the new darkness in the room...

A shadow seeped from under the door of Seth's chambers, shortly thereafter. It wasn't visible for very long, though, darting to a shadow in the corner... And seemingly crawling up the wall. It gained definition... And there stood the robed figure. "...Not here." The figure, rather than do the silly shadow thing again, simply walked to the door, and opened it. "Your summons was received." This was said rather deadpan, as though the figure wasn't standing behind the person she was talking to, and hadn't somehow appeared in his room.

[Seth-Rah]

Melia's home was unusually large. While it was not uncommon for personal homes to have a room relatively larger than the others, Melia had a large one by most standards. This was likely because it had a tree in the middle of it, with a bit more room around it than was strictly necessary. It wasn't a truly huge room, but it was still unusually large by quite a bit. Nestled in the corners were small glowing spheres, providing illumination not unlike tiny stars without the kind of heat that would boil water due to proximity.

She was currently sitting at the base of the tree, occasionally clicking her tongue. She was met with a sound not unlike a cricket chirping each time. This continued for quite some time before she went without a response.

"Ah, no response..." She leaned back, resting against the trunk of the tree. "Still need to improve stability. Or maybe just get him bigger so there's enough room without it. I wonder how large he would need to be for that..."

At least as large as your hand if you want a decent pet.

"Aw, but he might not be as cute if he was that much larger." Melia crossed her arms behind her head and stretched slightly as she spoke.

'He' is hardly cute now.

"I would have thought you would be more likely to think he was than most people."

Arthropods do not automatically find other arthropods 'cute'. That would be like you finding a wrinkled duck-rat fusion cute.

A moment of mental silence as the spirit considered her choice of words.

That would be like a normal person finding a wrinkled duck-rat fusion cute.

Melia simply shrugged and resumed clicking her tongue. She continued to be met with chirps for several minutes before the creature fell silent again.

This is just a waste of time, really. You've got the main design down anyway, and you could be improving the normal version instead of trying to get the abnormal one to work right.

"It's not a waste of time! Figuring this out could give me very valuable information!"

And you're more likely to get something useful by spending more times studying. Honestly, if you're going to aim for another element, you should at least stay dedicated to it.

"I am. I'm allowed to have multiple projects at the same time. This is just as useful a way to spend time as studying. Right, Mneme?" Several moments passed before she received a mental reply from the other spirit. "Eh? You too? I can't even get support in my own head..."

Still, that wasn't any reason to despair. She knew it would be useful in the long run, after all. She continued her experiment until it was interrupted not by silence, but by another voice. "Was that Peo?"

No, it was Seth's other spirit.

"Very funny. Hmm... he's requesting our presence..." It was probably important. Probably related to Daniel and getting him back, which was definitely important. But... it wouldn't take long to get just a bit more information. She continued for about a minute, until the creature fell silent again.

"Ah... well, that's that, then. We'd better get going." Melia rose to her feet. There were several moments of silence.

Don't tell me you forgot again...

"...maybe..."

You can't just rely on me to get you to places! You need to start actually remembering the relative locations!

"It's not my fault I get lost in the tunnels! I can't remember everything."

No, but you can try harder. It's not that difficult to find your way from here to there.

"It is if you don't know how to get there! And it's not like this is actually that inconvenient for you, so don't use that tone."

...fine. We'll drill the location back into your head after this. I'm only doing this because it's important and we can't waste anymore time here, got it?

"Of course, Vespy." There was just a very slight hint of amusement in Melia's voice. "Of course."

Don't use that tone.

Then they were gone in a flash of green light. Several moments of silence went by, and nothing in the room moved. Then there was a single, quiet chirp.

~~~

Barely a moment later, there was a flash of green light elsewhere, and Melia materialized near Seth. It could have gone a bit better, as she stumbled and nearly slammed into a wall. "You're just doing that because you can!"

Would I do that?

"Yes!" Melia placed her hands on her hips as she continued, growing more irritated. "Teleporting doesn't normally do that kind of thing! That's just out of spite!"

Nonsense. You just have trouble dealing with it.

"I've teleported more than enough times on my own and with you to know that's not true!"

So it was a fluke. Either way, don't you have something more important to tend to?

She blinked. Then Melia slowly turned her head toward Seth and innocently waved at him, a slightly embarrassed expression on her face. "Sorry I'm late~"

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seth had not been paying full attention to his surroundings, concentrating instead upon the issue at hand and how he was going to convince his allies to support him.

"Little one..."
"Hmm? Phoenicus, what's..."

Melia appeared in what could only be called a "flash," hitting the wall with what would be dizzying force to most normal beings.

"Melia, are you... "

He reconsidered, knowing that a wall wasn't going to hurt Melia very much, and that his concern would be offset by her ability to heal away any foreseeable minor injury from the sudden stop.

"You're not late, I must wait for the others as it is."

A mental prod came along, warning Seth that something had been in his room. He whirled about, meeting Oberrata, who was waiting patiently in front of the "door." The warning prod sent along basic stats of what had been in the chamber, the most informative of which was "Really old."

"Oberrata, I must've missed your greeting in my contemplation. I apologize. Phoenicus, please remind me to fix the warning charms about my room later. They were quite late."
"Of course, little one."
"Also, I would appreciate if you would avoid using my room as a potential surprise tactic in the future. It is my personal chamber, after all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A young-looking adult was bundled into the corner of a wide, bleak room. The walls were little more than polished silver metal, reflecting the shadows through the empty space. The man had a black mark upon his forehead, underneath his unkempt silvery hair. The mark was that of an eye within squares and triangles. His clothes were dirtied and ripped in multiple places. His hands were contained in a solid, white device which pulsed occasionally with a blue indicator bulb. The only light in the room was focused upon his huddled form. The man's eyes were wide open, their gaze riveted upon the figure sitting upon a chair in the shadows.

"Ah, Daniel..." The voice was smooth, dangerously so.

"I never thought I would catch you... How shall your beloved friend Seth act? How shall little Sethy respond? You wouldn't happen to know, in that brain of yours, hmm?"

"You! Why would I tell you, you traitor?!" Daniel's voice was rich with a spirit of contempt. His eyes, however, burned with fear.

"Ah, let's not throw such harsh words. Little Sethy will rage, he will roar. He shall break his bones against our cities, and then it will be checkmate. How long shall it be until he bursts? How long... until he finds you shall not be saved, hmm?"
---------------------------------------

[Karnstantine]

Oberrata tilted her head to the side slightly, almost imperceptibly under her hood. "Surprise was not the intention." Had Phoenicus said "by" or "in" Seth's room? Too late now, whatever it was. She looked over to the other person who had just appeared. "Melia." She said, and nodded as a greeting. It seemed her spirit was giving her some trouble. "The bug does not do that in battle, I hope. That could get her killed." Brädaísnberg chimed in. Spiteful insect, indeed.

[NDraxian0]

"Boredom is the least of my troubles right now, as several of my projects may be nearing a breakthrough needed to complete them and advance a few others." Fygar responded in his usual metal cold tone. He turns his head toward the commander before motioning towards some of the more complete gadgetry, the faceless helm not revealing his underlying emotion, not that there much his face would show.
"These ones may be done sooner, if I can fix some of the issues that the intial testing have shown."
He returns to his work, confident that his overseer would not require any further explaination on just which ones are nearing fruitition. After all, he had explained them before to him, or was it someone else? Not that it mattered. If more detail was required he would calmingly explain in further detail, and if possible, while he continued to work.

Although he had answered the question and the statement, his answer to the statement wasn't quite as elaborate as it the real answer would have been. He much rather be building defenses at the moment than weapons, but his rather complex ideas of defense have, as lately been rejected by the SCS, while a few of his more, fatal, projects were more favorable.

But such was the nature of the opponent these tools were to be used on, so far, the battle favored quick annihilations rather than long seiges. If only the Heretics weren't so dangerously difficult to defend against. Or at least, without paying in platinum arms and legs.

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

Heretic/SCS Mood Music: Gathering Darknesses

"Oberrata, Melia, if you'll pardon me, there are a few things I should do while we are waiting. I shall return when the others have arrived."

Seth entered his personal chamber, apologizing briefly as he stepped behind Oberrata. The door reformed silently, a small rune near the center becoming red and pulsing slightly.

Another mental warning prod. "Yes, yes, warning spell. It's me." He traced a symbol in the air, ending the unneeded signal. "Phoenicus, could you please remain outside and wait for the others while I take care of some business? I shall make a perch for you on the wall outside."
"That is no problem, little one. I do not need a place to rest."

Phoenicus jumped from Seth's shoulder, passing through the door and settling himself upon his own tail, which had curled into a sort of makeshift nest.

"Melia, Oberrata, spirits noble and strong." It was Phoenicus's way of greeting people while not with Seth.

Seth stepped over to a small desk in his chamber, upon which was a thick book with a dark, rune-enscribed cover. He opened it up to a page marked by streaks of blood. He set one hand on the page.
"I apologize, everyone..." He said this to nobody in particular, for nobody could hear him.

A voice echoed within Seth's head, deep, dark, and booming.

"Ah, little Sethy! Do you need my help again? Or are you merely here to chat for a while?"
"I have... a favor... a favor to ask."

The voice chuckled derisively.

"A favor to ask of me? What could possibly be this important to make little Seth ask a favor? Wait... I already know what you desire. And you shall have it... for now. Just remember that you came to me, whelp."

Seth lifted his hand from the page, reddish lightning crackling around the point of contact, grabbing at his hand as though to continue the connection. He held his hands to his face, looking at the scarred lines of centuries of battle.

"I am... no better than he. I am sorry, everyone..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commander Alaric nodded, appearing placated with Fygar's work.

"Continue the good work. I shall remember to talk with Stefan about a promotion."

The Commander walked away, towards a group of scientists working on circuits within a human-shaped mechanical shell.

"What is the progress on my armor suit?"
"Very good, Commander. We are receiving the negator generators in a short period of time. There is little left before you can crush those criminals with your own hands."

Alaric pulled out an ionblade's handle, activating the sword only a few inches from the scientist's face. Blue energy crackling with minature bolts of lightning seared the space between them.

"I always preferred cutting foes to pieces." The blade winked out of existence like an extinguished candle.
----------------------------------------------------------
Nobody needs to talk with me.

Drax and New Heretics, you do not need to respond if you do not desire to.

[Karnstantine]

Ober looked over to the spiritual firebird. "Phoenicus." She nodded, like when greeting Melia. "It's odd of Seth to leave when he's called us all together. Is something wrong?" She assumed it was something involving their other leader, Daniel... Well, there was hope of saving Daniel, at least. Unlike Grezh- Enough thinking about that.

There was a whistling of wind around Oberrata, and a figure faded into view in the air next to her, sitting cross-legged. This was Brädaísnberg, her spirit, obviously. "Yes, is something the matter, firebird?"

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

Phoenicus looked from Oberrata to her spirit, and then to Melia.

"There are no issues. Seth merely wishes to get as much done as he can while we wait. He would not enjoy having to speak to a group of us again because they arrived after he began speaking. I am simply waiting here so that I may inform him upon their arrival."

He looked down the long hallway, which faded into blackness despite the glowing markings crossing the walls.

"I do hope Pierre heard my voice, however. He does not have a spirit for me to contact... It can be quite a bother at times like this."

[Lern]

A small yet simplistic pocket watch dropped in front of the fire bird. Pierre was already standing beside him, wondering what he was looking at in the hallway.

"Ye called?"

His unique voice silently echoed through the room. He disliked appearing in an obvious and infashionable matter. Of course, if he would repeat this entrance, it would become obvious. Thus, next time would be unique all over.

Pierre looked at Phoenicus, wondering what they wanted now. He slowly turned to Oberrata and Melia. His hood covering his head darkened his face, yet the overly long nose stuck out like light in a dark cave. He slowly inhaled, thinking about what he could be doing IN HIS ROOM, instead of waiting for a bird. He didn't really like birds but he had to wait for his response. Maybe he was just waiting for the other guys?

Or, maybe, and quite frankly a much lot more correct assumption was that Pierre forgot to stop the time stop and continue the flow. Sigh. Whatever.

As he slowly stopped the flow of time, he repeated himself-

"Ye called?"

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

"Ah, Pierre. You did hear my summons. Though, I am unsure of why you felt the need to stop time to enter, I am certain that Melia and Oberrata will be suitably surprised by your appearance."

"Seth, Pierre has arrived."
"Good, Phoenicus. I shall not be long either way, my patience grows thin with this project."

[Seth-Rah]

Arrogant twit. Wait, what?

He's keeping us waiting again! He does this every time, every single time he calls more than one person! He just keeps us waiting out here while he does something he should have already dealt with.

That again, then. It wasn't the only thing that reliably happened when he called multiple people...

I'm just as correct now as I was the second time. He doesn't even bother giving an actual excuse, just that he needs to finish something, or do something, or prepare for something! He just wants to see us waiting. Wasting time. Wasting time, now! He could be using this opportunity to actually start planning!

And leave the others out?

It's their fault if they're not here promptly.

Melia shook her head. Vespy was so difficult sometimes, always certain she was right. Never considered the possibility she might be wrong... but it could be worse. There were more uncooperative spirits she could have been paired with, and...

...and now another person had arrived. That was Pierre, unless he had changed his name. Or someone changed their body. Really, she would not have been surprised if some other naturalist among the Heretics had changed their body to look like Pierre. Some of them could be so very silly sometimes, doing things that made little, if any, sense, and making such a terrible mess while they were at it that someone else ended up having to clean up just because they went and got themselves exploded all over the walls trying to mess with some strange thing or getting themselves caught and executed or...

Melia's wandering train of thought was interrupted by a gentle mental nudge, pointing her toward one little thing she had completely missed while thinking. Oberrata had addressed her, hadn't she? It would be rude not to respond... though enough time had passed the other woman would have doubtlessly realized she had been completely ignored. Whoops.

But at least she had turned her attention to Phoenicus now. Maybe that one little mistake wouldn't end up being so bad after all~

[Zyros]

Coragat spent much time walking from her room to Seth's. The plain and simple fact was that she didn't care enough to be on time, or even there at all. Seth's overall method of handling things once Daniel had been captured was lacking, along with his skills, and so Coragat's faith in Seth began fading. That said, Azzerare did little to hurry Coragat either. He simply spent his time sleeping on the Heretic's shoulder as she wandered to her final destination.

By the time Coragat finally arrived, the others were standing outside of Seth's room, with Seth's spirit waiting outside. Azzerare seemed to almost lift his head from his nap, as if slightly interested.

"So he told us to come and now he's busy crying to himself. Awesome. no, really, great."

"You'd think he'd be more prepared as a leader."

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

Many, many apologies on the lateness. Life/Computer problems is all I will say on why, and I'd prefer not prying, if possible. Anyway, on with the update.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Heretic Mood Music- Sorrow and Remembrance
SCS Mood Music- Iron Willed Intentions

Phoenicus cocked his head slightly, examining the colors of the most recent arrival. He decided to avoid direct prying and instead add to his mental message to Seth.

"Little one, all but the trainee are here."
"Excellent. I shall be out straight away. Any trouble spots?"
"Dragons breed only disappointment should you try to lift their spirits."
"Ah, I shall remember that."

Seth picked up a pair of devices on the table he was sitting at, getting up to take a last check for anything he might need.

"Hmm... No, I suppose I can leave this here."

He set down one of the items, something looking like a fusion of a corkscrew and syringe. In his other hand was something like an archaic cell-phone, complete with all the old nonsense of hinges and number pads.

"Oh, that man would have a field day with the things I produce."

Seth exited his room, standing amongst the gathered Heretics. His face held a neutral gaze of both firm command and sorrow. Phoenicus decided to eschew normal movement and ported himself to Seth's shoulder.

"As all of you know, but two days ago, my closest friend, and our co-leader, Daniel, was captured by the Seven Cities. According to Phoenicus, he was just today retrieved and returned to Terra City. This means in three days' time he will be executed. I do not intend to let them take him unscathed."

He looked about, hoping that his meaning would sink in fast enough.

"I fully intend to save him. I would appreciate your assistance, but I understand if you do not join me in this. Under any other circumstances, I would give you a large space to decide for yourselves and fully weigh out the options, but time is of the essence and I must ask that you decide now. With or without your aid, planning is essential to success, and I must know all I can before I can make any conjecture. It is wholly your choice whether you aid or not, and I shall not hold it against you for any reason should you decide to stay."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We're receiving a report from Terra City!"

An operator turned to Military General Raamzes to give him a full report.

"Sir, Terra City is reporting an escaper! Local scanners indicate that it is Shire Stramn and that he has just gotten out of city borders!"

Raamzes knew Shire. Shire was the closest thing he would have had to a "brother," having had the same father-genome and the same "mother." That being said, it was little more than biological coincidence.

"Send a force after that bastard! And send out groups to hunt down the remaining escapers still out there! Don't make them large, they're powerless and we can't be throwing out battalions on weakling traitors."
"Yes sir, I shall send the orders!"

Five minutes later, 200 soldiers spilled out of Terra City's basin, splitting off into groups of fifty. Each headed a different direction to seek out the few unprotected people who dared to leave the SCS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What a bother. I could destroy them all, but it would be so rude of me to deprive my loyal underlings a good headhunting. Let us just hope little Sethy doesn't get his hands on them first..."
-----------------------------------------------
Alrighty. New Heretics are gonna need a chat with me, except Twinkin'. All of you will be attacked by one of the groups of soldiers. I would prefer having a quick chat with the Old Heretics to discuss your plans. Other than that, enjoy, and apologies once again for the lateness.

[Karnstantine]

Ober thought for a moment. Yes, it was a dangerous mission, no doubt, but to lose a member of their leadership to the SCS without action would devastate morale... That, and the "Old Heretics" had lost enough to the SCS already. Trainees, loved ones, knowledge, freedom, and much more. Her spirit companion agreed. "We are honor bound to do this. Besides, if there isn't somebody watching out for these young ones, who knows what could happen, correct Ober?" Yes, indeed. "We shall assist, but I hope you know what you're doing, Seth. We can help construct a plan if needed."

[Lern]

Pierre sighed lightly, eyebrows descending onto the eyes, hiding them. It was obvious what he would answer. Heck, he wasn't sure they'd ask him- He thought they'd just pull him into it. Wonderful. Now he knew there could be regrets.

Wait, why was he thinking about this? Who cares wether you get a choice or not. Just join! There was an unreasonably long pause. Suddenly Ober began speaking. Obvious response. To Pierre, anyways.
"Heh. You don't really expect me to let you go, alone, right?"
Pierre responded peacefuly and slowly. He... He wanted to think about it. He didn't even know why. "My mind is killing me," He told himself. And not for the reason of going there whilst knowing it's a 50 50% chance of death- Because it's not. He was, nearly fully assured he would make it out alive. Yes. He would. He told himself so. He survived 444 years. Now this was what made him sure he would survive. Now he was calm again. It seemed aging affected him in a way he knew he would make it longer.

[Zyros]

Coragat looked over at Azzerare; he seemed just as uninterested with things as he always was. With that, Coragat was left to decide on her own if she wanted to add Seth. One side of her wanted to say yes, because Daniel was an important ally, and the Heretics were losing too many. Despite this, another part of her wanted to say no. Just no.

"I will help, though I reserve the right to do as I please. I won't be taking orders from you, Seth. Not for now, at least."

Azzerare glanced at Coragat for a moment, lifting and tilting his head in interest. He wondered how Seth would respond, but more about how Coragat would be judged for this decision. Afterall, the girl just openly insulted their leader.

[Seth-Rah]

See? There he was. Seth wasn't one to waste time, after all. He had been doing something while they waited, and he hadn't kept them waiting long. Not that it would stop her.

That insufferable, arrogant little ass. He keeps calls us here and then has us waste our time as if it was worthless, waste our time while he does what he should have done earlier, and then has the nerve to ask us for help?

Did she not intend to aid them?

Of course I'm going to aid you. You would get yourself killed if I wasn't there.

So it was just to keep her alive.

Naturally.

Of course.

Don't use that tone with me!

"I'll help." It was a simple statement. It was hardly a surprise, really, and nothing more needed to be said. Not there, at least. Either way, when things were already understood, what reason was there to say them?

Not that she would have long to dwell on it. Coragat's response had seen to that. That was the funny thing about it. It was just a bit disrespectful. Melia would have overlooked it, but then, Melia wasn't the one responding to it...

"Then who will you take orders from?" It happened quite quickly, really. One moment, it was just the Heretics and a couple spirits that happened to be visible. Then there was a horse-sized giant hornet in the hallway in front of Coragat.

Vespy hopefully had a point. Melia really hoped she actually had a point to make and that it wasn't just raging at the other Heretic.

[Zyros]

Coragat wasn't surprised that someone had challenged her earlier comment, no. When one argues with their superior, a respond to said argument is expected. The Heretic did not, however, expect the challenge to originate from a spirit. It almost threw off the manner by which she had to respond.

"Go back to wherever the hell you happened to be; you certainly aren't in any way close to being anyone's superior. I have no reason to answer you."

Coragat shifted and leaned against the hallway's wall, looking away from the spirit, showing that she was done with it.

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

Mood Music: Tense Beginnings

Seth and Phoenicus spoke in unison, both of them intending to get their point across. Phoenicus seemed more annoyed than Seth, as his voice was accompanied by some ethereal flame.

"Cool it, both of you."

Seth then turned specifically to Coragat, knowing that it would get him nowhere unless he added some exposition into the matter.

"I know you won't take orders, but I hope you'll at least listen to advice. This might be a small shock, but being... how shall I say this... acting..."

Seth looked up at the rock ceiling. Gods above, how do I do this...?
Obviously, little one, by talking.
Har har har, O Puffy One. How do you suppose I do it without alienating an ally?
Don't step around the mine, stomp it into the ground. You've leapt through worse flames than what she and the dragon can bring.
I can reasonably postulate that being sly about the issue would similarly be seen in a negative light. Therefore...

"... I won't mince words attempting to coddle you. It is incredibly unwise to appear superior in one's actions while surrounded by a group of people and spirits equal or greater in strength than you. I do not expect you to ignore affronts, but it would be wise to consider how others will perceive your actions and words. You do not need to read minds to understand that telling the giant angry spirit to 'go to hell' will not garner positive reactions."

Phoenicus then turned to the now-highly-visible hornet Spirit. He looked as unhappy as a fiery bird can look.

"You, your temper is not something I'd expect to change. I and many others have only been listening to spurts of it for several hundred years. That does not mean you're free to vent on whatever convenient targets light up. Coragat has her reasons for her actions, however foolish they may be. Your question, especially in the tone and way you presented it, was uncalled for. Do not forget that you live as a Spirit only by the graces of the Gods, and of the Regnum de Phasmatis."

Seth placed his hands together. He wished to continue, but he also knew that Coragat would likely want to respond to his speech, as would Melia's more active Spirit.